Silva Regina
8.-12.4. 2018

International Forestry and Hunting Fair

Agricultural Fair celebrates 20 years

One of the three largest agricultural shows in Europe which was first
held in Brno just 20 years ago was opened in the Rotunda of Hall A. This year's
international trade fair complex of TECHAGRO, ANIMAL VETEX, SILVA REGINA and
BIOMASS is the largest in its history. Thirteen awards were presented during the
opening to the best exhibits and two awards to the leading personalities in the
field.

It the beginning, all
present were welcomed by the CEO of the organizer, Brno Exhibition Centre, Mr.
Jiří Kuliš, according to whom this is the trade fair event of the year.
"This year’s edition is record-breaking in all of the traditional
parameters of the fair and I trust the same will also apply to the attendance.
I can say that exhibits are everywhere, even on the grass, which means we have
exceeded the capacity of the Brno Exhibition Centre at these fairs," said
Jiří Kuliš and thanked all partners, professional unions and associations for their
help in preparing this extremely successful year. The opening speech was given
by the Minister of Agriculture Marian Jurečka, who stated that this occasion
was marked with great honour. "The first time I was here as a thirteen
year old was in 1994 and I was lucky that I did not miss any of the previous
years. TECHAGRO is one of the largest events in the agricultural sector every
two years, and I would be very happy if the record number of exhibitors and
record area was complemented by a record number of visitors and if they managed
to arrange and conclude a record number of commercial contracts. TECHAGRO
serves also to people working in agriculture as an opportunity to meet each
other, to talk, to maintain existing friendships and further develop the
agrarian sector through this event," said the minister, and finally wished
all exhibitors and visitors to enjoy their days in Brno and to spend the days
usefully and beneficially for them and the whole agricultural sector.

President of the
Agricultural Chamber of the Czech Republic Miroslav Toman pointed out that
these trade fairs are among the three largest agricultural events in Europe.
"It is a meeting not only for farmers, but also for hunters, engineers,
veterinarians and all who operate in the countryside, who are taking care of
it, who care about it and develop it for the future. I am very glad that this
exhibition presents innovations and modernizations, all the more since we have
the money distribution period ahead of us under the Rural Development
Programme. We try to achieve a situation where much of that money - circa 30
percent - was allocated just for modernization and innovation because we want
agriculture to go further ahead and Czech farmers to be better off, for people
to have quality food and rural areas to develop further. If agriculture
thrives, it will also be bale to perform the functions beside production, which
are required of it," said the president of the Agrarian Chamber.

Chairman of the
Agricultural Association of the Czech Republic Martin Pýcha stated in his
speech that our agriculture is in good condition and the trade fair shows that
the Czech Republic can produce not just cars, but also agricultural and
forestry equipment. "There are companies that not only assemble, but also
develop and produce cutting-edge agricultural technology. Already the previous
edition was a record, the same situation was managed this year and I am
confident that this year will contain a record number of both exhibitors and
visitors," said Martin Pýcha, wishing a successful trade fair and another
record-breaking year in two years‘ time.

The opening ceremony
included the presentation of awards in the competitions for the best exhibits
of all four trade fairs. Eighty-seven exhibits competed for the Grand Prix this
year. The results of the competition are as follows:

Grand Prix Techagro

CLAAS EQ 200 CMATIC Gear
- Exhibitor Agrall zemědělská technika, a.s.

Tractor M110GX -
Exhibitor BONAS, s.r.o.

Modular seeder Farmet
Falcon 6 - Exhibitor FARMET, a.s.

HARDI DynamicFluid4 -
a new system of dose regulation - Exhibitor UNIMARCO, a.s.

Beside the prizes for
the best exhibits, two special awards were also presented. On this occasion,
the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic traditionally honours the most
significant personalities who have contributed to the development of
agriculture. This year, the Board of Directors decided to grant a Commemorative
Certificate of Merit for mechanization of Czech agriculture to Ass. Prof. Ing.
Adolf Rybka, Csc., who has been associate professor of technology and
mechanization of crop production and head of the department of agricultural
machinery Agricultural Faculty of the Czech Technical University in Prague for
26 years. The Award of the Brno Exhibition Centre for long-term cooperation and
support of the international agricultural fairs was presented to senator Jan
Veleba, who until recently served as president of the Agrarian Chamber of the
Czech Republic.

Thirteenth SILVA REGINA started

Hall Z with its impressive
dome changed into a forest temple for five days and directly in its heart, on the
central stage, the SILVA REGINA trade fair opening ceremony took place, attended by distinguished guests.

Everyone was invited
to the opening venue by the typical sound of horns, but it was still quite
difficult to get to the stage on time because like the whole exhibition centre,
the hall was bursting at the seams under the onslaught of visitors from the
first day. "Although Sunday should be a day of rest, from the perspective
of trade fair organizers and exhibitors there is nothing more one could ask for
than such a beautiful day like today, when the exhibition centre is full of
visitors," commented the Minister of Agriculture Marian Jurečka in his
opening speech. He emphasized that the complex of fairs, which SILVA REGINA has
been part for a long time, is the largest event in the last two years, not only
for agriculture but also for forestry. On this occasion he informed the
forestry public that temporary period in the key enterprise Lesy ČR ends on 14
April, when the new CEO takes up his post and the situation will thus be
stabilized also for the woodworking industry.

Senator and Chairman
of the Czech-Moravian Hunting Union Jaroslav Palas greeted the trade fair participants
on behalf of the organization that brings together approximately one hundred
thousand hunters in the Czech Republic. He invited all present to visit the
stand of this hunting organization and at the same time wished everyone to
enjoy this beautiful exhibition as much as possible. On behalf of all the
organizers, everyone was welcomed by the CEO of the Brno Exhibition Centre Jiří
Kuliš. He highlighted the very good participation of this year and thanked
everyone who supported the successful SILVA REGINA fair, especially Jaroslav
Pospíšil from SILVAJAGD association and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests
of the Czech Republic as sponsors. The stage of the opening ceremony also hosted
the speech of the representing Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Forestry
Martin Žižka, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology of the Mendel
University in Brno Petr Horáček, Director of the Šumava National Park Jiří Mánek
and Lesy ČR production director Pavel Indra.

French
horns fanfare accompanied the traditional conclusion of the ceremony – awarding
of personalities of Czech forestry and hunting, proposed by the forestry
management section of the Ministry of Agriculture. Recognition of Merit in
forest care and significant contribution to the Czech forestry was presented to
Miroslav Sloup who received it from the hands of the Minister of Agriculture
for his long active work in forestry management. The Recognition of Merit in
forest care and significant contribution to Czech hunting wen to Jan Hamřík for
his lifetime achievements in hunting.